The letter describes the bill as “a blatant attempt by the Harper government to stack the deck in favour of the Conservatives in the next federal election” and calls on MPs to “not allow this new elections law to pass without removing the parts that would legalize voter suppression.”

The letter raises eight key concerns about Bill C-23, including how it would:

make it harder for people to vote

disproportionately impact students and youth, Indigenous people, seniors, people on low-incomes, and other groups of people who the Conservatives know are unlikely to vote for them

actually make it harder to catch perpetrators of election fraud like Pierre Poutine

Organizations that have signed the open letter include ACORN Canada, Alternatives, the Canadian Peace Alliance, the Canadian Teachers' Federation, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, the Canadian Federation of Students, Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice, the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC), Coalition Pas de démocratie sans voix, Confédération des syndicats nationaux – CSN, the Council of Canadians, CUPE, la Fédération des femmes du Québec, Le Conseil québécois LGBT, Leadnow, Ligue des droits et libertés, NUPGE, OpenMedia, the Polaris Institute, PSAC, Public Interest Alberta, UFCW Canada, Unifor, and the Union of Veterans Affairs Employees.